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Opening the Gateway to Ancient health and Spiritual Practices for the Modern Mother

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Siva Mohan

Siva Mohan, MD, MPH

In her integrative ayurvedic private practice, Svastha Health (Long Beach and San Francisco), Siva guides clients in a psychospiritual, individualized and holistic healing journey. Siva’s professional goals now center on writing, lecturing, and continuing to spread the awareness of Ayurveda and how it can complement modern medicine. Her insight and perspectives have been featured on TV (KCAL 9 Los Angeles); in books (OffBalance, The American Way of Health, Milady’s Aesthetic Series: Treating Diverse Pigmentation) yoga teacher trainings (Cloud9 Yoga School, Yoga Works Inc., Yoga World Studios); radio interviews (eHealth Radio, the Accidental Yogist); and several websites. Siva has a feature column in LA YOGA magazine, is adjunct faculty for local ayurvedic schools, an ayurvedic expert for Veria International, and lectures nationwide. She is a registered practitioner with AAPNA, and on the Standards Committee of the CA Assn. of Ayurvedic Medicine.

“I began my path to healing in neuroscience, and this alongside my personal yoga practice, sparked my interest in the mind-body connection. In Medical School and during my Public Health Masters, I focused my studies on an extension of the mind-body relationship: the effects of community, and culture on our health behavior (how we make decisions and how this affects our health).

As an international public health consultant, I witnessed many different indigenous healing systems at work, and fell in love with ancient holistic practices and natural approaches to wellbeing. This love, along with my cultural heritage, drew me to ayurveda. Being diagnosed with several chronic ailments with my jet-setter lifestyle allowed me to experience the healing power of ayurveda firsthand.

I actually began my studies in ayurveda as a personal interest: I wanted to experience motherhood in a way that emphasized connection to nature and spirit, and offer that to my children. My grandmother, a village midwife and ayurvedic, came to the U.S. when I was born to help support my mother in her journey into motherhood. Since her death, I realized the only way to carry these traditions was for me to learn more, and to walk the path myself.

My two ayurvedically guided pregnancies and natural home-births were deep openings in my spiritual core, further revealing my dharma: to spread the wisdom of ayurveda and empower others to heal themselves.

“I’m beyond words to describe the honor of bringing this knowledge to women across the globe. Ayurvedic Motherhood is the pregnancy guide I wish I had: one that brings clarity to the mind, nourishes the body, opens the heart and feeds the soul.”